The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for use in home and office security. More particularly methods and apparatus for securely keeping a door from being forcibly broken down, both while it is closed and while it is partially open, are disclosed.
Crime rates, particularly rates pertaining to home-invasion crimes, are on the rise. As such, the issue of home security is of considerable concern to many people. Since a substantial percentage of home-invasion crimes begin with the act of a door being broken down, specialized door security devices have been developed to prevent doors from being broken down from the outside.
Although existing door security devices in the market today have been shown to be effective in preventing doors from being broken down from the outside when the door is completely closed, these existing devices are not particularly effective at securing the door in its partially open state, e.g., when the occupant desires to open the door partially to identify the caller, to receive mail or packages, to allow in pets, or the like.
Many existing door security devices are designed to be mounted to a portion of the floor on one side of a door. Such devices are often secured by a base portion that requires a portion of the floor to be xe2x80x9cdrilled outxe2x80x9d or otherwise removed such that the base of a door security device may be mounted in the base portion. Further, many base portions may prove to be an obstacle when the corresponding door security devices are not in use. For instance, a base portion may catch the heel of a shoe, e.g., a high-heeled shoe, and cause a person wearing the shoe to trip.
In view of the foregoing, what are desired are improved methods and apparatus for securely keeping a door from being forcibly broken down, both in its closed state and in its partially open state. In particular, what are desired are methods and apparatus for securely keeping a door from being forcibly broken down, without providing an obtrusive obstacle while the apparatus is not in use.
The invention relates, in one embodiment to an apparatus for holding a door. The apparatus includes a door mounting plate configured to be mounted on the door. The door mounting plate is arranged to extend perpendicularly from the door and includes a door binding portion. The apparatus further includes a rigid body member arranged to be coupled to a floor and to extend perpendicularly from the floor wherein the body member is substantially immovable by a force exerted by the door. The apparatus additionally includes a locling member coupled to the body member. The locking member is disposed substantially perpendicular to the body member and has a locking member binding end configured to engage with the door binding portion.
The invention relates, in another embodiment to an apparatus for holding a door. The apparatus includes a door mounting plate configured to be mounted on the door. The door mounting plate is arranged to extend perpendicularly from the door and includes a door binding portion. The apparatus further includes a rigid body member arranged to be coupled to a floor and to extend perpendicularly from the floor wherein the body member is substantially immovable by a force exerted by the door. The apparatus additionally includes a locking member slidably coupled to the body member. The locking member is disposed substantially perpendicular to the body member and has a locking member binding end configured to couple with the door binding portion.
The invention relates, in another embodiment, to an apparatus for holding a door. The apparatus includes a door mounting plate configured to be mounted on the door. The door mounting plate is arranged to extend perpendicularly from the door and includes a door binding portion. The apparatus further includes a rigid body member arranged to be coupled to a floor and to extend perpendicularly from the floor wherein the body member is substantially immovable by a force exerted by the door. The apparatus additionally includes a locking member coupled to the body member. The locking member is disposed substantially perpendicular to the body member and has a locking member binding portion configured to couple with the door binding portion. The apparatus also includes a collar configured to be coupled to the door binding portion and the locking member binding portion wherein the collar prevents the door binding portion from being de-coupled from the locking member binding portion when the collar is coupled to both the door binding portion and the locking member binding portion.
The invention relates, in another embodiment, to an apparatus for preventing a door from being forcibly opened from either a first predefined position or a second predefined position, the door being opened further in the second predefined position than in the first predefined position. The apparatus includes a door mounting plate configured to be mounted on the door. The door mounting plate is arranged to extend perpendicularly from the door and includes a door binding portion. The apparatus further includes a rigid body member arranged to be coupled to a floor and to extend perpendicularly from the floor wherein the body member is substantially immovable by a force exerted by the door. The apparatus additionally includes a locking member slidably coupled to the body member. The locking member is disposed substantially perpendicular to the body member and has a locking member binding end configured to couple with the door binding portion. The apparatus further includes a floor mounting plate configured to be mounted on the floor. The floor mounting plate includes a recess for rotatably coupling the body member to the floor mounting plate such that when the body member is rotated to a position where the locking member is substantially parallel to the door, the locking member and the body member are in a door blocking position. The apparatus also includes a stop arrangement configured to hold the locking member in a predetermined position relative to the body member such that the holding prevents the door from moving past one of the predefined door positions when the binding portion is bound.
The invention relates, in yet another embodiment, to an apparatus for preventing a door from being forcibly opened from either a first predefined position or a second predefined position, the door being opened further in the second predefined position than in the first predefined position. The apparatus including a door mounting plate configured to be mounted on the door. The door mounting plate being arranged to extend perpendicularly from the door. The apparatus further includes a locking member coupled to the door mounting plate. The locking member having a locking member binding end. The apparatus additionally includes a body member arranged to be coupled to a floor and to extend perpendicularly from the floor. The body member including a body binding portion configured to hold the locking member binding end to the body member such that the holding prevents the door from moving past one of the predefined door positions when the binding portion is bound.